The first thing I see when I look out my window is my flag of the United States of America blowing in the breeze. Often, I will sit and gaze at the flag - great focus for thinking. These are my musings and ramblings, and, on occasion, rants... I am unapologetic in my support of our military, our country and my devotion to God. I will honor them and pay tribute to them here.
Along the side bar you will find tributes to Oregon's fallen warriors.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Stephen Cochran had it all in front of him. College, a fiancée and an offer for a professional recording contract. But life had other plans for him. The day was September 11, 2001. "It was just so horrific," Cochran said. "It's like I'd been called. I'd never been pulled so hard to do something."

It may have been the audacity of the attacks, but more likely it was his family's long history of military service that drew him to enlist, he said. Both grandfathers served, as did an uncle and several other relatives.

So he dropped out of college, walked away from the record deal and joined the United States Marine Corps. "I've always been raised very, very patriotic. It's just what I had to do."

After serving in Iraq, he and his entire battalion volunteered to go to Afghanistan with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit where Cochran was injured in an ambush. 20 yards inside Kandahar, the vehicle he was riding in hit an anti-tank mine and he was thrown from the vehicle and broke the five vertebrae in his lower back.